TEACHING CHILDREN PHILOSOPHY THROUGH AFRICAN FOLKTALES

Résumé

This paper critically discusses the need for teaching philosophy to children by using African Folktales. Though philosophy is a college or tertiary-based subject which is taught to adult students alone in almost all the country in the world. The problem this has created is that at the tertiary level the students have missed out on the critical skill sets that are necessary for a robust engagement with abstract philosophical texts. Thus, many students find philosophy to be difficult and dry. Nevertheless, the issue is not philosophy per se but the way it is being taught at the tertiary level without a foundational exposure at the primary and secondary levels. Therefore, this paper adopts the use of folktale as a mechanism through which philosophy can be implanted on the younger generation at the primary and secondary levels of the educational system, which will equip the children with higher-order thinking, questioning, and enquiring skills. Children will be more tolerant, able to respect other people's opinions and values, and be broad-minded, not intolerant or narrow-minded as it is commonly found in most urbanized African societies. The paper employs the method of critical analysis.